Defeating Honeypots: System Issues, Part 2

by Thorsten Holz, Frederic Raynal

This paper will explain how an attacker typically proceeds in order to attack a honeypot for fun and profit. In part one we compared honeypots to steganography and then looked at three common techniques for virtualizing honeypots. For each of these methods, which included User Mode Linux, VMware environments, and chroot/jail environments, we looked at weaknesses that lead to their detection. It was made clear that while each of these have their advantages, they can all be easily detected by an experienced hacker.
Now, in the second and final part of this series we discuss the detection of Sebek, the primary data capture tool for honeypot researchers. Then we'll look at other techniques available for detecting honeypots, such as x86-specific ones and time based analysis. Let's get moving.